A Past to Present Journey: A Critical Analysis of the Chief Information Officer Role

The objective of this chapter is to explore the role of the Chief Information Officer (CIO). A detailed and extensive review of existing literature traces the evolution of this important role over four decades and highlights the characteristics and configurations of the CIO role. CIO role effectiveness can be described in terms of three demand side roles: strategist, relationship architect, integrator, and three supply-side roles: educator, information steward and utility provider. To explore the configuration of roles of CIOs in Australia, a large scale survey of CIOs was conducted. The Australian results, based on 174 responses, are compared with those from similar studies in the United States of America (USA). The top priority for the Australian CIO was information steward, ensuring the organizational data quality and security and recruiting and retaining IT skilled staff. In comparison, the first priority for the USA CIOs was utility provider - building and sustaining solid, dependable, and responsive IT infrastructure services This study’s findings have implications on the current and future CIOs’ career development and education in addition to the senior management strategies in relation to recruiting and retaining a CIO who would be able to play a dual role of savvy IT technician and insightful business leader.